This invention relates to a method of selecting a set of transactions, from a larger possible set of transactions, to present to a customer, given: the customer""s history, a store""s history and the time and day of the customer""s activity; such that a maximum value is extracted from the available customer idle time without exceeding the idle time in a specified percent of cases.
This invention relates generally to point-of-sale computer systems of the type used in multilane retail stores, gas stations and banks to record transactions. Specifically, the invention relates to point-of-sale systems that can handle the presentation of visual or audio information to the customer and allow that customer to respond to that information. Point-of-sale systems have mechanisms for inputting a code recorded on a credit card, debit card, loyalty card, driver""s license, and/or acquiring via some other means the identification of a customer being serviced. Such mechanisms include magnetic track readers (commonly called xe2x80x98stripe readersxe2x80x99), key pads, and touch screens.
During the final minutes of a purchase of products in a retail environment, the customer is faced with a period of idle time. In a multilane store (grocery, variety goods . . . ), the customer waits for the checkout clerk to ring up the various purchases. In a gas station, the customer waits for the attendant or pump to fill the tank. This is wasted time. In general, neither the customer nor the store benefits from the activities of the customer during this time.
A mechanism for making use of this time can allow the retailer to gain additional revenue and profit. This invention allows those objectives to be met by providing a selection of transactions that the customer can perform during this time, such that the transactions are likely to be the ones the customer would select.
The method of the invention involves the collecting of information about the characteristics of a customer in a specific venue, at a time of day, and date; building profiles regarding specific consumers and generic consumers; collecting information about a current retail transaction, and using that information in whole or in part to optimize the customer idle time. An optimization takes into effect the value of a proposed use of idle time to the presenting retailer, a service company managing the interactions, and a target retailer or product manufacturer, and the utility to the customer.
A number of means are provided to: identify the customer; identify the venue; identify a start of idle time; present information; measure the time taken to present information; measure the time taken by the customer to respond to information; log frames (screen or audio) presented to the customer; log the frame choice made by the customer; relate the frame choice to a specific ad, coupon, product offering, or service offering; to estimate consumer idle time; to construct dialogs leading to specific ads, coupons, product offerings and service offerings; to fit alternative dialogs to the idle time; evaluate the alternative dialogs; and to select between the alternative dialogs.
The invention performs the steps of collecting information from customer transactions at specific store locations; aggregating that information at a computer; analyzing the aggregated information to: extracting the probability of habitual activities, determining a likely speed of the customers response to various presentations, determining repeated sequences of actions that can be combined into a fewer number of actions; collecting the value of all the possible transactions; using this information to estimate the time the customer will be idle at the point-of-sale terminal; selecting the best set and ordering of transactions that will fit within the expected idle time while minimizing the probability of continuing the transaction(s) beyond the expected idle time.